Irish Evening Herald: Extract from "Chinese Whispers and the seanad"

I had been contacted by Dae Dongxhue, a remarkable and courageous young woman, who, with several members of her family, was imprisoned in China for practising Falun Gong, a kind of Chinese yoga.

A group of her supporters had organized a meeting at the Central Bank and a march to the Department of Foreign Affairs, followed by a picket on the Chinese Embassy, in order to try and put pressure on the Chinese to renew her passport.

They have steadily refused to do this, without giving an explanation, which effectively puts her in unofficial exile in Ireland.

Among the other speakers was a young man called Zhao Ming, who was successfully extricated from prison in China as a result of a similar campaign.

I well remember the party to welcome him home to Ireland and his moving speech on that occasion.

In the midst of his happiness he refused to forget all those other people imprisoned and being tortured in the Chinese labour camps while he was enjoying his new-found freedom.

It is astonishing to me that the teaching of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance, which characterize Falun Gong, should so threaten the Chinese Government. That surely says something about their values.

Over 100,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been illegally arrested and detained. More than 500 have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 18 years.

More than a thousand have been forced into mental hospitals, an act condemned by the World Psychiatric Association.

Over 20,000 have been illegally sent to labour camps without trial. And at least 434 deaths through police torture have been confirmed.

BRAIN-WASHING

While we were speaking, a young Chinese man tried to interrupt, spitting and incoherent with rage.

Instead of being angry, my Chinese friends from Falun Gong were sympathetic. They explained that he was probably the victim of brainwashing by the Chinese media, who consistently describe Falun Gong practitioners [in a negative light].

Unfortunately, some of the western media collaborate with the Chinese Government in this.

My old bete noire, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, for example, last year viciously attacked the Dalai Lama, tried to inhibit the publication of the memoirs of Chris Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong, and refused to allow his television organization to broadcast programmes critical of China's policy in Tibet…"